1) Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates to coatings and paints. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a self decontaminating chemical and biological agent resistant coating and method.
2) Description of Related Art
Known paints and coatings that are resistant to various chemical or biological agents may be used on aircraft, rotorcraft, vehicles, items of equipment, architectural structures, or other various structures. For example, a solvent borne chemical agent resistant coating is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,706, and a water dispersible chemical agent resistant coating is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,691,410. However, these patents, as well as other known paints and coatings, do not disclose paints or coatings that are self decontaminating. Known chemical agent resistant coatings typically require application of caustic oxidizing solutions to remove any chemical or biological agents or contaminants. Such caustic oxidizing solutions, such as DS2 (Decontamination Solution Number 2), which comprises 70% diethylenetriamine, 28% ethylene glycol monomethyl ether, and 2% sodium hydroxide, can cause damage to the aircraft, rotorcraft, vehicle, or equipment to which it is applied. Moreover, having to transport such additional caustic oxidizing solutions to the location of the contaminated aircraft, rotorcraft, vehicle, or equipment can be expensive and time consuming. In addition, having to apply such additional caustic oxidizing solutions can be time consuming and labor intensive, and the down time of the aircraft, rotorcraft, vehicle, or equipment can be increased.
Known paints and coatings also exist that include chemical or anti-chemical actives, or biological or antibacterial/antimicrobial actives. Such paints and coatings may also be used on aircraft, rotorcraft, vehicles, or equipment. For such paints or coatings to maintain their anti-chemical or antibacterial/antimicrobial actives, they must be able to withstand severe wear-intensive environments. Typically, such actives are applied as coatings on top of a paint system used on aircraft, rotorcraft, vehicles, or equipment, and such surface application may make the actives vulnerable to environmental damage. The ability of the paints or coatings to maintain their anti-chemical or antibacterial/antimicrobial actives may be diminished if the paint or coating is damaged, scraped, or scratched during operation of the aircraft, rotorcraft, vehicle, or equipment, because such actives are typically applied at the surface of the paint or coating. When an aircraft, rotorcraft, vehicle, or equipment has a surface irregularity, such as a scraped or scratched surface, the continuity of the paint or coating may be broken, the anti-chemical or antibacterial actives may be lost or removed, and the chemical or biological agent resistance may be diminished. Known methods of repairing the surface irregularities of the aircraft, rotorcraft, vehicle, or equipment may include using known aerosol touch-up paints on the surface. However, such known aerosol touch-up paints do not provide any chemical or biological agent resistance to the sprayed areas. Moreover, such known paints and coatings are not self decontaminating and do not combine both anti-chemical and/or antibacterial/antimicrobial actives in a single coating. In addition, the efficacy of the anti-chemical and antibacterial/antimicrobial actives in such known paints or coatings typically does not last for the life of the paints or coatings.
Accordingly, there is a need for a self decontaminating chemical and biological agent resistant coating and method that have advantages over known coatings and methods.